


The Time

by superagentwolf



Series: With Religious Fervor [4]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Movie(s), Short, mostly canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-03 02:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8693179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superagentwolf/pseuds/superagentwolf
Summary: Grindelwald takes him, and after that Graves doesn't remember much but the pain.
-
Part of series, but may be read as standalone.





	

He is on his way to see Credence when it happens.

He is thinking about Credence, about the dangers of an Obscurial, the persecution and instability they will face, the struggle.

He thinks, _I will stand by him_ , and then there is a snap and he is thrown through the air.

He is an Auror. More than that, he is the Director of Magical Security. He is an accomplished wizard.

So he twists, focused, thinking only of how he can keep himself alive and oriented long enough to fight back. He apparates in a blink, in and out, smooth movements spinning him back onto a hidden street.

He knows with cold certainty that he will be fighting for his life when he sees cold eyes and white hair.

“Percival,” Grindelwald smiles, more of a grimace than anything, lips pulled back from scavenger’s teeth.

He is a vulture, Graves thinks.

“You will not leave this city free,” Graves says calmly.

His head is spinning through thoughts. _Why is he here? What does he want?_ He assumes Grindelwald is after Picquery; there is no other immediate, pertinent goal that the dark wizard could be pursuing.

Grindelwald bares his teeth and advances.

Graves can only immediately think of the damage they might cause so he disapparates, swirling out onto a quiet shipyard, quickly firing a few protective spells. He knows that there will be fallout- there always is- but he wants to minimize damage.

Protection is, after all, his job.

Grindelwald laughs at him even as he fires spells, dark, crackling sparks that sting as they fly by. Graves finds it easy to deflect them at first, trying to think of what he might do to immobilize the other.

“You are weak. You could not kill me,” Grindelwald cackles.

A spell hits Graves’ shoulder. He reels sideways with it, allowing the turn to move his body out of further harm. When he looks down, he sees blood.

“I’m not trying to kill you,” Graves says firmly, rolling off the pain with a quick charm.

“You should be. Because I will _kill you_.”

Graves doesn’t believe it. _He’ll try to take my place,_ he thinks, determined. _It only makes sense. He will try to take my place to get closer to Picquery. I must not lose._

They duel and Graves finds that he can keep up, deflecting and redirecting, firing stuns as often as he is able to.

He might have won.

He might have, but Grindelwald cracks the protective shield and Graves immediately thinks of Credence.

_If there’s damage, they’ll blame him,_ he thinks. It makes no sense- why would they believe such a thing if Graves were to bring Grindelwald into custody?

It makes no sense but he is distracted for a fraction of a second, focused on shielding the no-maj world from their fight.

It is in that second that Grindelwald hits him with a spell.

_No,_ he thinks fiercely, biting on his pain in determination. He can feel the spell worming its way up his chest, tendrils creeping around his throat.

He knows he has little time.

He unleashes his power. Stunning, immobilization, disarming- all of the spells fly forth repeatedly as he hopes for one to hit before he is choked. He is losing breath but he continues, grimly determined, watching Grindelwald’s face harden as he tries to keep up.

The man roars when a freezing spell hits his left side. He shuffles forward, cold eyes gleaming like steel, anger and evil twisting half of him in a grotesque display.

Graves’ vision swims and he involuntarily reaches for his throat, fingers hovering over the spell choking him. Grindelwald stands before him, appraising.

_Someone must help Credence,_ Graves thinks. _When I am gone._

He isn’t sure that Grindelwald won’t kill him.

“It’s too bad you won’t make that appointment,” Grindelwald notes mildly.

_No,_ Graves thinks, feeling his eyes widen a fraction even as his vision dims. He realizes too late what Grindelwald is after.

_He’s here for Credence._

* * *

Grindelwald relishes taking memories from Graves.

Graves’ mental walls are thicker than stone and cement and steel. They are impenetrable.

Or they would be.

Grindelwald does not take memories the way one normally would. Instead, he uses explosive force, dissolving the walls and watching them burn and melt. What he does would paralyze, _kill_ any other wizard. What he does would render a person incoherent and babbling.

Graves is not any other wizard. He _is_ human, though.

Time seems to warp before him. He is hungry and then full with the bare water he is allowed. He is weak and then strong enough to explore his confines, hoping to escape. He thinks of Credence one moment, thinking maybe he can escape in time, and then he is resigning himself to hoping Grindelwald doesn’t hurt the boy. Hoping, selfishly, that Credence will lose control and kill the imposter.

Sometimes he wakes and Grindelwald is there, laughing, breaking Graves’ mind simply for the pleasure of doing so. Eventually he resorts to physical torture, probably realizing that Graves is useless if he’s destroyed. The whip-fast cuts give way to slow carving and eventually Graves forgets what his body looks like without scars and bruises.

He fights back.

Sometimes he rushes Grindelwald, knowing it probably won’t work but trying all the same. He is batted away with just enough force to leave him breathless, slumped against a wall, fighting for air and the chance to stand and _fight_.

One day he gets his hands around Grindelwald’s neck. For a moment the triumph he feels floods his system and he’s suddenly stronger, almost there, _almost_ , and then he’s thrown back again, this time with more force. Grindelwald breaks his hands only to heal them later, repeating the cycle like the timeless inside of the chest Graves is held in.

He screams when Grindelwald is gone, still too stubborn to let the dark wizard hear his pain. 

* * *

“He hasn’t noticed anything,” Grindelwald says one day- night? – when he comes to see his captive.

Graves doesn’t answer. He knows the man wants a reaction.

“Does that make you sad? Angry?”

A kick to his stomach. One of the rare times Grindelwald indulges in physical, man-to-man violence.

“You know, I expected better. It’s almost too easy, taking your place.”

* * *

 “You know, it would be easy to make him lose control. So weak,” Grindelwald says.

_He isn’t weak. You’re just too weak to see his true strength._

* * *

 

“Scream,” Grindelwald commands, wand jabbing forward as an invisible knife buries itself in Graves’ abused shoulder. “I want to hear you _beg_ for yourself.”

“I won’t,” Graves breathes, knowing he shouldn’t respond but hating the force and manipulation he only sees part of in captivity. He can’t imagine what Grindelwald is doing to Credence.

Grindelwald roars and lashes and Graves thinks, in a moment of blissful clarity, that maybe if he disobeys more Grindelwald will spend more time with him and less trying to twist Credence.

* * *

 

He blinks slowly, watching the blood pool on the ground. His nose is numb now, pain and thought flowing out like the red on the floor.

“I need you awake,” Grindelwald says, and then Graves is pulled back, eyes distant as he curses himself for wanting the nothingness he was so close to reaching.

* * *

He thinks of Credence often. He wonders what Grindelwald has done to the boy. He hopes the influence can be reversed. He hopes that Credence isn't lost.

* * *

__"You will never be able to leave," Grindelwald says, and Graves believes him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here we are. I wanted to kind of do a little explanation that hopefully captures- in not so much detail- what Graves experienced in captivity. Hopefully with the series I'll continue to explore completely canon-divergent original Graves/Credence. What would you like to see? Let me know!


End file.
